KATHY NOVAK
SBS
FORMER PNG PRIME MINISTER Sir Michael Somare has told SBS he will defeat incumbent PM Peter O'Neill at the election and that "Peter will go to jail".
In an exclusive interview, Mr Somare says Mr O’Neill has been telling the PNG people lies, and if elected, he'll see O'Neill put behind bars.
“He’s telling people a lot of fibs about what he has done. He has not come and told the inner things about himself.
“I know it all. I’m not going to let it go. Peter will go to jail,” he adds. “I’ll make sure I’ll win the election and some of these guys will go to jail.”
For ten months, the two men have disputed the highest office in the country.
Mr O’Neill, who controversially ousted Mr Somare from government last year, recently said the conflict between the two will be resolved in an “amicable manner”.
“We understand that the lines have been a bit blurry over the past few months,” he said. “But I believe that after the election all of these matters will be resolved in a very amicable manner.
Mr O’Neill is also confident he will be re-elected.
“He got a bruised ego,” he said of Mr Somare. “He's a cranky old man. He's been promising the country that he's been retiring for the last 20 years. So nobody believes him anymore.”
When confronted with Mr O'Neill's remarks, Mr Somare responded: “[Peter] was my cabinet minister for nine and a half years, and if he had seen things which are wrong in the way I run the country, he should’ve come out at the time and tell me, ‘No, you are wrong.’”
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